Responses are commonly generated for responding to requests in data processing. Some responses are fully automatic and apply to all requests. For example, in the context of web servers, a request for a web page is typically responded with a response that contains the requested web page (if such a web page exists). This response is typically not customized to the individual requester.
Other types of responses are manually generated by the responder. For example, websites exist that allow potential service buyers to submit a request for a service that includes certain details of the request such as a category and a location, and the online marketplace may transmit the request to one or more service professionals that match the requested category and location, and the service professional may compose and generate a response. These responses are largely manual and can be time intensive.
Online marketplaces exist for transacting for services online. For instance, websites exist that serve as a repository for reviews of businesses and/or services. Potential service buyers may be presented with a directory of service professionals ranked by some measure of quality (e.g., user reviews), and asked to select from that list. These directories do not make any effort to help service buyers find service professionals who have interest and/or intent to do their job, or services professionals who are a good fit for the specific job of the service buyer. Nor do they consider general supply/demand in the market as a whole. As a result, both service buyers and service professionals spend a lot of time and effort to find the best match between them in these kinds of marketplaces.
Websites exist that allow potential service buyers to search for a service professional and/or to be matched with a service professional. By way of example, the potential service buyer may post a request for a service that includes certain details of the request such as a category and a location, and the online marketplace may transmit the request to all of the service professionals that match the requested category and location. Zero or more of the service professionals may respond to the request by providing a quote for the service. However, transmitting the request to all of the service professionals (or many service professionals) does not scale with many requests and many service professionals using the online marketplace. For instance, a particular service professional may become inundated with requests, and/or many service professionals may respond to the potential buyer. Instead of transmitting the request to all of the service professionals that match the requested category and location, a simple limiting system may be used such that if the service professional did not use marketplace over a certain period of time, they would not be sent requests or would be sent a limited number of requests. However, this type of simple limiting system may have unintended consequences. For instance, if a service professional went on vacation, they may come back and find that the marketplace was not sending them requests. Also, in sending limited requests, service professionals may not be receiving the requests that they were interested in, which may cause them to stop using the online marketplace.